Sand sits at edge of Route 101 weeks after truck accident

EPPING — Motorists who travel Route 101 through Epping may have spotted large piles of sand sitting on the edge of the busy highway for the past several weeks.

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By Jason Schreiber

seacoastonline.com

By Jason Schreiber

Posted Mar. 27, 2014 at 1:16 PM
Updated Mar 27, 2014 at 1:18 PM

By Jason Schreiber

Posted Mar. 27, 2014 at 1:16 PM
Updated Mar 27, 2014 at 1:18 PM

» Social News

EPPING — Motorists who travel Route 101 through Epping may have spotted large piles of sand sitting on the edge of the busy highway for the past several weeks.

The piles aren’t part of a state project to add sand dunes along Route 101, but were simply left behind after a dump truck overturned on Feb. 20 and lost its load.

It’s been more than a month since the accident on Route 101 eastbound near Exit 6 and there’s been no sign of clean up, but officials from the state Department of Transportation insist there is a plan to get rid of all that sand.

The state DOT plans to remove the sand when the snow melts and make use of it.

“Our plan was to go out there and scoop it up and get it out of there,” said DOT District 6 Highway Maintenance Engineer Doug DePorter.

The towing company and vehicle owners are usually responsible for cleaning up any debris left behind after an accident, but with the sand mixed in with the snow from earlier storms, DePorter said it was decided to leave the sand alone until the snow melts.

“It is fully off the paved shoulder and the foreman does not consider it to be a hazard. This material is not connected with an environmental spill, which would have a completely different timeline and would clearly fall on the responsible party to pay for,” DePorter said.

Removing the sand from the side of the highway is ultimately the responsibility of the dump truck owner, but DePorter said sometimes “you get to the point where the administrative costs of tracking down the money” is more than the cost of sending a state highway crew out to clean it up.

“If there was anything of real expense, by all means they would be out there finishing it up,” DePorter said of the dump truck owner.

DePorter said the cleanup should be a “quick project” that won’t involve overtime for highway workers.

At the time of the accident, state police a 2006 STRG LT9500 dump truck operated by Lawrence Jache, 78, of Manchester, swerved to the right to avoid a collision with traffic that slowed ahead of him.

The dump truck then hit the van and began to roll over, striking a 1999 Saab 9-3 driven by Leslie Jolland, 34, of Hooksett, as it rolled, police said.

The dump truck ended up on its right side in the center median and spilled its load of sand.

The sand piles haven’t posed any hazards for motorists, according to state and local police.